Page: Quotes, Quote Topic, Spiritual (life)
Spiritual life does not mean being in the clouds while saying the Jesus Prayer or going through the various motions. It means discovering the laws of this spiritual life as they apply to one’s own position, one’s situation. This comes over the years by attentive reading of the Holy Fathers with a notebook, writing down those passages which seem most significant to us, studying them, finding how they apply to us, and, if need be, revising earlier views of them as we get a little deeper into them, finding what one Father says about something, what a second Father says about the same thing, and so on.
–Seraphim Rose (1934-1982)
Page: Quotes, Prayer (how), Prayer (what), Quote Topic
“The more you pray,” Angela of Foligno wrote, “the more you will be enlightened.” But I knew better: The statement, as it stands, is both true and false. When we turn God into a vending machine, when we pray to “get” things rather than to get God — there is no “enlightenment” in that. When prayer is a journey into the mind and heart of God, into the nature of life, into the shaping of a holy heart, then it is necessarily enlightening. We come to understand ourselves: our fears, our darkness, our struggles, our resistance. Then we are faced with choice. That is enlightenment.
–Joan Chittester (1936-
Page: Quotes, Prayer (why), Quote Topic
Why do you have to pray? Why do you have to breathe? Because otherwise I’d die.
–Gianfranco Ravasi (1942-
Page: Quotes, Prayer (why), Quote Topic
If we do not fill our mind with prayer, it will fill itself with anxieties, worries, temptations, resentments, and unwelcome memories.
–Scott Hahn (1957-
Page: Quotes, Prayer (why), Quote Topic
Here are 10 positive things that happen EVERY time we pray from the heart:
1. We Receive…
2. We Follow God’s Will…
3. We Profess Our Faith …
4. We Imitate Christ – …
5. We Enter Into A Relationship With God …
6. We Increase Our Chances For Salvation …
7. We Obtain What God Wants To Give Us…
8. We Practice Humility…
9. We Obtain Peace…
10. We Use Our Time Wisely…
Obviously, the prayer that I’m speaking of above is sincere, “from the heart” dialog with God. Going though the motions” or babbling rote phrases will not produce the above results. When we truly mean the words we pray, however, we can count on every one of these benefits. Remember this the next time you’re tempted to put off praying, thinking that it will do no good. There is no more productive activity we can do on this earth!
–Gary Zimak (5/17/13)
Page: Quotes, Quote Topic, Spiritual (life)
To live an authentic Orthodox spiritual life, one must be faithful to the basics: daily prayer, the sacraments, the ascetical disciplines of fasting, abstinence and almsgiving, and feeding the mind and heart with holy reading. All of this must be done within the context of a lively and faithful church life and under the guidance of one’s spiritual father or confessor.
–James Deschene (Twentieth and Twenty-first Century)
